Nature calls

17 - Kira

I'm outside with all the others, looking at all the tree saplings slowly growing out of the ground, and it makes me smile a sad smile. If only Kate could see this. Maybe she can? Maybe she's watching over me? I hope so. I like the idea of it.

Shawn comes up behind me, wraps his arms around my waist, and rests his head on my shoulder before he whispers, "are you alright?" I slowly nod. I'm alright. At least I will be. Kate is right. I have this small family around me now and I know they will help me with whatever I need, and I will help them the best I can. I don't know with what yet, though. For now, it's by giving them a place to stay. That I can definitely do.

"Yeah. I'm okay." I turn my head to look at him and ask, "are you?" Kissing my temple, he tightens his arms around me. "I am now." I smile a little before I turn around in his arms, stand on my toes, and kiss him lovingly.

"Let's go inside. I think we need to talk." He furrows his brows and says, "No one ever wants to hear those words." I chuckle and kiss him again. "It's not about us."

He lets out a sigh of relief and nods before I look at everybody. "Before I tell you what happened, I seriously need something to eat." My stomach growls in agreement. "Come on, dear. We made hamburgers for dinner." Hillary says.

Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. Following her inside the house, Shawn takes my hand and intertwines our fingers while Chloe takes my other hand.

Hillary makes me two hamburgers that I almost scarf down. When I'm finished, Shawn chuckles and dries my cheek with his thumb before he puts it in his mouth to suck it clean. "You had some ketchup on your cheek." I blush a little. "Oh." That's not embarrassing at all.

Going into the bathroom I wash my face and when I come back out, Olea has made tea and coffee for everybody who's all gathered in the living room. Dear house, next time you grow, please make the living room bigger.

Shawn pulls me onto his lap and only now do I see a young boy amongst us. "Oh, this is Toby," Shawn says. Toby waves shyly at me, and I smile at him. Then I frown a little because he looks kind of familiar.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" I ask. He smiles a little and says, "I'm the sheep."

I can't help but smile. A sheep shifter? How sweet is that?

"It's nice to meet you, Toby. I'm Kira."

"I know," he simply says, making me slightly raise my brows in surprise. Okay then. Then I ask him, "I'm guessing you're living here now?"

He starts to look a little panicked before he looks at Shawn. "I... Shawn said..." Giving him a warm smile, I say, "it's okay. You're welcome here." I wonder where his parents are?

Now's not the time to think about that, Kira. I need to talk about what happened because it was just too weird and I'm curious about what they saw, so I ask, "what happened here when I... you know." Olea takes a deep breath. "Your powers took over and you blasted everything around you away."

"And there came this red kind of energy that shattered all the windows in town." Chloe says, making me raise my eyebrows again. "It was red?"

Shawn kisses my temple, takes my hand, and intertwines our fingers, making me relax a little. "Yes," he says, and Olea continues, "and Freya came flying down and wrapped her wings around you."

My eyes widen. "She wrapped her wings around me?" She nods before she simply says, "yes."

"So that was what she meant when she said that Freya protected you from me," I mumble. "What?" Olea asks, looking at me questioningly. I shake my head. "Nothing. Did anything else happen?"